True Spiritualism. 



BY 



NORMON LEANDER. 



■ 



en) 



— lO/O 



PHILADELPHIA 
KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, 607 SANSOM STREET. 

1875. 



& 



\t> x 



v** 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1875, by 

NORMON LEANDER, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



PKEFACE. 



" What is spiritualism % " is a question 
that has been asked of late by those who 
never before gave any attention to the 
subject. The following pages will parti- 
ally answer that question. 

Recent occurrences involving the genu- 
iness of certain spirit manifestations, 
which obtained great publicity, it was 
supposed by many, would throw a doubt 
on the public mind upon the truthfulness 
of the whole subject of spiritualism, but 
such is not the case. A spirit of inquiry 
has been awakened to an extent never 
before known. 

Truth never suffers, its march is 

onward, its force irresistible. Error, 

(3) 



PREFACE. 



fraud, fanaticism and credulity, at times 
may appear to overwhelm it, but the 
apparent triumph will be of short dura- 
tion, the latter must perish. 

The statement headed " True Spiritual- 
ism," is supposed to embrace the general 
principles. The several chapters contain- 
ing brief explanations, are more particu- 
larly designed to call the attention of 
the honest inquirer to the beautiful truths 
contained therein, leaving him to form 
his own conclusions. 

In arranging the matter for publication, 
the author, of course, consulted the lead- 
ing works on Spiritualism, and made such 
extracts from them as he deemed neces- 
sary to fairly place the subject before the 
reader. 

Valuable aid was derived from that 
excellent book •' The Problem of Life 



PREFACE. 5 

and Immorality," by Loring Moody, 
and from " Spiritualism/' by Edmunds 
and Dexter, with other standard works. 

The true spiritualists have no sympa- 
thy with modern manifestations, or with 
the principles and practice of certain 
parties who have assumed the name. 

A large number of persons who have 
made the subject of spirit manifesta- 
tions, in all their different phrases, a 
study for years, are not prepared to 
believe in the truthfulness of spirit 
materialization. To them no satisfactory 
evidence of its genuineness has yet ap- 
peared. Great difference of opinion 
exists on the subject among honest in- 
vestigators. The reader will remember 
that spiritualists are not responsible for 
the articles contained in the ' newspapers, 
supposed to be the organs of the be- 



6 PREFACE. 

lie vers in the Harmonial Philosophy. 
The publishers chronicle the current 
events of the day, leaving it to their 
readers to judge of their merits, and 
are not supposed to endorse everything 
that appears in their papers. 

The genuine Spiritualist has more 
regard for truth than public opinion, and 

u In strong integrity of soul 
Uplifted calmly stands, and hears the words 
Of stormy folly breaking at his feet." 

No change of time or circumstances 
will ever alter his faith in what God in 
nature and his own judgment teaches 
him to be true. For these teachings and 
their author he has '? a high sense of con- 
scientiousness and a deep and solemn 
veneration." 

The Author. 

Philadelphia, February 20, 1875. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 



First. That there is one vast sea of life, 
emanating from the Great First Cause, the 
Divine Mind, the Great Spirit. 

Second. That forms of matter are the re- 
sult of the operation of natural laws, unseen 
vital force, invisible powers, operating in this 
sea of life, under the guidance of Infinite 
Wisdom, for a purpose. 

• 
Third. That these forms of matter, from 

the lowest to the highest, came into exist- 
ence in accordance with the laws of necessity 
in the Divine plan. 

Fourth. The great centre of all things 
being spiritual, all power is necessarily 
spiritual. 

Fifth. That man being the highest order 
of organized intelligence, has a spiritual 

' CD 



^^ TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

nature as well as a corporeal; the spiritual 
having an organized form, with parts and 
organs corresponding to those of the visible 
body. 

Sixth. That the body being but matter, is 
formed as a covering for the spirit by the 
operation of natural law, in accordance with 
the requirements and necessities of each 
individual for a use, serve its purpose, and 
then by the operation of the same law, dis- 
integrate and fade away. The living organ- 
ized spiritual being remains and is immortal, 
having continued identity, mental and moral 
growth. 

Seventh. That there is a spiritual world, a 
place of existence for man after he has be- 
come separated from the external form, with 
its substantial realities adapted to the wants 
and necessities of his continued existence. 
That the change called physical death, a 
separation of matter and spirit, is a necessity 
of his nature quite as much as birth, and 
does not essentially change the mental con- 
dition or other characteristics of any when 
experienced. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 9 

Eighth. That after the process of physical 
death, the condition of man in the spirit 
world depends not upon arbitrary decree or 
special provision made by a superior, but on 
character, aspirations and personal individ- 
ual conformity, to the universal divine law 
of his nature. 

Ninth. That growth and development is 
the law of the human being, and is the end- 
less progressive destiny of all. 

Tenth. That as individuals are continually 
passing from the earthly to the spirit world 
in all stages and conditions of mental and 
moral growth, the spirit w T orld necessarily 
includes all grades of character, from the 
lowest to the highest. 

Eleventh. That happiness and misery de- 
pend on the growth and development of 
moral purity, and there must be as many 
grades of each in the spirit-world as there 
are shades of character, each gravitating to 
its own place by the natural law of affinity. 



10 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

Twelfth. That through the law of spiritual 
affinity, there may be, and, doubtless are, by 
mental impression or other modes of trans- 
mission, communications, to a limited extent, 
from spirits out of the form, to spirits in the 
form ; but these communieations are to be 
regarded as truths, just as communications 
from one person to another while on earth. 
Their character for truthfulness depends 
entirely upon the mental and moral develop- 
ment of both — the one that gives and the 
one that receives. 

Thirteenth, That these communications or 
influx of ideas and promptings from the 
spirit world are not to be regarded as special 
privileges, confined to one class of persons, 
but have existed and will exist through all 
time and among all classes of persons ; they 
are the operation of natural law. 

Fourteenth. That the chain of causation 
traced backward from what we see in nature 
leads inevitably to a Great First Cause, 
the fountain of life, love and wisdom, the 
source of all power, sustaining to all individ- 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 11 

ualized intelligence, the relation of father, 
consequently all are brethren. 

Fifteenth. That man a3 the offspring 
of the Divine has within him a germ of 
divinity, which is ever prompting him 
toward perfection, and that all evil in man 
is a want of harmony with this Divine prin- 
ciple, caused by an undeveloped mental and 
moral condition. 

Sixteenth. That growth in goodness and 
truth is slow, depending, to some extent on 
physical organization and surrounding cir- 
cumstances, but mainly upon interior growth ; 
the ultimate destiny of all is perfection and 
happiness. 

Seventeenth. Man's highest duty in this 
world is to assist in the mental and spiritual 
development of his kind, for such is the 
fundamental unity of human interests. So 
completely are our essential lives merged 
into each other, that the highest good and 
happiness of each individual can only be ob- 



IS TRUE BBIRITUALISM. 

tained through the highest good and happi- 
ness of all. 

Eighteenth. The sufferings of this life are 
the necessary results of man's structure, are 
essential conditions of his mental, moral and 
spiritual culture and development ; they are 
part of the divine economy, and the only 
methods by which we can ever reach high 
attainments and beneficent results. No man 
can appreciate spiritual refinement and exal- 
tation, or comprehend the full measure of 
happiness and joy, until he has felt the sharp 
pangs of suffering and woe. 

Nineteenth. That in proportion to man's 
moral purity will be his happiness, here and 
hereafter. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 13 



CHAPTER I. 

First. That there is one vast sea of life, emanating 
from the Great First Cause, the Divine Mind, the 
Great Spirit. 

Second. That forms of matter are the result of the 
operation of natural laws, unseen vital force, invi- 
sible powers operating in this sea of life, under the 
guidance of Infinite Wisdom, for a purpose. 

Third. That these forms of matter, from the lowest 
to the highest, came into existence in accordance 
with the laws of necessity in the Divine plan. 

The human mind when perfectly formed, is 
so constructed, that it cannot depart from the 
idea of a First Cause possessing All Power. 
The source of all intelligence. A Deity. A 
GREAT SPIRIT. 

When there is real or apparent departure 
from this natural idea, it is only in proportion 
to the imperfection of the mental organization. 

Different nations have names for this Great 
Spirit, corresponding to their degree of mental 
and moral development. Capacity to under- 
stand spiritual truths. Allah, Jehovah, God, 
&c, each name having a signification, embracing 
the peculiar idea they entertain of Him. 

All nations use the masculine gender, growing 



1 I TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

out of the notion of strength and greatness. 
We will do the same, and use the commonly 
received name — GOD. 

Each person's conception of God, depends on 
the organization of the mind, the nature and 
character of the education, the degree of mental 
and moral development, and from this fact 
there must necessarily be great diversity of 
opinion as to His character and attributes. 

To the mind, however, unbiassed by early 
education or sectarian influence, capable of 
comprehending truth, however and wherever it 
may be found, God is regarded as a Great 

SELF-EXISTING FACT, a REALITY, a GRAND CEN- 
TRE, a Living Eternal Principal, possessing 
all power and intelligence, manifesting His will 
and pleasure by the operation of fixed laws, 
producing the different forms of matter in 
nature, organizing, individualizing life and 
mind, and imparting to each, necessary intelli- 
gence, according to a pre-determined plan, for 
a purpose. Absolute and perfect in conse- 
quence and results. 

These laws which we for convenience sake 
divide into Mechanical, Chemical, Electrical — 
laws of attraction and repulsion, centripetal 
and centrifugal forces, with the generative and 
organic processes and operations, by which 
spirit, mind and matter become associated, and 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 15 

are brought to conscious individualized exist- 
ence, are but the emanations of His power and 
will, vital forces, natural laws, under the guid- 
ance of Infinite wisdom. 

Everything that exists is necessary. 

Nature, the off-spring and product of the 
Great First Cause, contains within itself the 
essential substances and properties necessary 
for the formation of matter. 

Every part of nature is in harmony with 
every other part. All nature is in harmony 
with God its author. 

Now if we can comprehend a great Ocean of 
Light emanating from the Grand Centre con- 
taining within it Life, Law, Order, Cause, Effect 
and Purpose we need go no further. Outside 
of this all is myth. 



16 THUS SPIRITUALISM. 



CnATTER II. 

Fovfth. Tho great centre of all things being spiritual, 
all power is necessarily spiritual. 

Tower is pressure acting through space. We 
can think of no definition more appropriate, 
whether applied in a physical, mental or moral 
sense. 

We cannot manufacture power out of nothing, 
any more than space or matter. 

Coal and other combustible matter used for 
the purpose contain the power imparted to 
them by the Sun ages before ; we merely lib- 
erate that power pent up in the material con- 
sumed to procure it. 

The law of the conservation of force teaches 
that power once in being can never cease to 
exist. 

Science has given no definite answer to the 
question " What is the origin of power ?*' Sci- 
ence is an investigator into the nature of 
effects ; it requires philosophy to understand the 
nature of cause. 

Science will tell you, " the origin of power," 
as a general thing, u is heat." In its operation . 
upon matter the student will see the force it 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. IT 

possesses in the expansion of bodies, and in 
separating the particles from each other. This, 
however, is merely superficial. 

Heat, and its apparent opposite, cold, are the 
results produced by certain vibrations of matter, 
differing in degree. The cause of these vibra- 
tions is a combination of different forces. 

The positive and the negative united form the 
condition of existence. 

God is the Great Positive. Nature pro- 
ceeding from Him by virtue of His creative 
energy is negative. The thing created can have 
no power, except what is imparted to it by the 
Creator. 

All one can see of nature is matter in the 
multitudinous shapes it assumes. It is .brought 
into form by the operation of invisible spiritual 
force. Natural law. We use the word spirit in 
contradistinction to matter. 

Spirit is associated with the idea of life, en- 
ergy, force, motion. Matter has none of these. 

The. different forms of matter are produced by 
the combination of different forces operating at 
different rates of motion. 

There is no power in matter per se, for the 
chemist will take the hardest substance, and by 
the application of heat, so disturb the co- 
hesive forces of the atoms of which different 
bodies are constituted, that in a short time it 

2 



IS TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

will become dilated, reduced to a fluid, and then 
to an invisible gas. This* is the result of a law 
of nature, that is, a law proceeding from the 
source of all power operating upon matter. The 
heat itself becoming less particled, rarified, sub- 
limated and refined passes into its ultimate, Elec- 
tricity. The latter being that subtle, elastic, 
invisible substance which pervades all things, 
and enters into every avenue between the finest 
particles of matter. 

Thus the lower evidences of power containing 
and developing the higher, and the higher again 
acting on all below its elevated state of perfec- 
tion. 

Motion, the result of power, is co-existent 
with matter. There can be no expression of 
motion without matter or the reverse. They ne- 
cessarily exist together and are the off-spring 
of power. God being the Great Centre of all 
things. Nature being passive all power and 
energy proceeds from Him — the Great Spirit 
— and is Spiritual.- 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 19 



CHAPTER III. 

Fifth. That man, being the highest order of organized 
intelligence, has a spiritual nature as well as a cor- 
poreal ; the spiritual having an organized form, 
with parts and organs corresponding to those of the 
visible body. 

S xlh. That the body being but matter, is formed as a 
covering for the spirit by the operation of natural 
law in accordance with the requirements and neces- 
sities of each individual for a use, serves its pur- 
pose, and then by operation of the same law, 
disintegrates and fades away. The living organized 
spiritual being remains and is immortal, having 
continued mental and moral growth. 

God the Great Spirit fills with Life and Light 
the whole universe. 

Life being everywhere, requires only the 
presence of necessary conditions and circum- 
stances, for its organization into individualized 
existence possessing the elements of both a 
spirit body and a material body — a spiritual 
nature as well as a corporeal, assuming a form 
that can never change its essential constitution, 
or the laws of its nature, preserving its identity 
through all time, growing in spirit, and becom- 
ing developed in form, as the requirements of 



"20 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

its nature draw to it the particles of matter 
necessary for its maturity. 

The arrangement and process for man's 
spiritual, mental and material organization and 
development, are like all nature's laws, perfect 
in the powers, resources and capabilities, neces- 
sary for his growth and structure. 

During this process of growth the spirit never 
loses its affinity for the spirit world ; and the 
material form or outward body its affinity for 
the material world. 

As the spirit part grows in stature and 
mental development, by the operation of a 
beautiful natural law, it is gradually covered 
with the materialized form, corresponding to 
all its requirements, wants and necessities, 
until it arrives at manhood, filling its desig;- 
nated place in God's great family. 

During this process of growth and develop- 
ment, it experiences the operation and effect 
of those chemical laws which necessarily be- 
long to the earth life. The sufferings of mind 
and body momentarily experienced, are part 
of the law of its nature, accompanying it while 
associated with materiality. 

So intimately blended are the two, body 
and spirit, that one is created to grow and 
expand with the other, and, should prema- 
ture dissolution take place, the spirit con- 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 21 

tinues to grow and expand, assuming the 
characters in the spirit world that the full 
grown man would have occupied on earth. 

When it arrives at mature manhood (in the 
absence of premature dissolution) the work 
of disintegration commences, and continues un- 
til the spirit no longer requires the material 
covering; when, in obedience to the same law 
of its nature, the companions before so inti- 
mately connected, separate forever, the ma- 
terial part going back to the great store-house 
of particles, from which it was taken ; the 
spirit assuming its place in the new field of 
existence, continues in the grand march of 
mental, moral and spiritual development, to 
an extent the mind, while associated with 
earth, cannot comprehend. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 



CHATTER IV. 

Seventh That there is a spiritual world, a place of 
existence for man after he has become separated 
from the form, with its substantial realities, 
adapted to the wants and necessities of his con- 
tinued existence. That the change called physical 
death, a separation of matter and spirit, is a ne- 
cessity of his nature quite as much as his birth, 
and does not essentially change the mental condi- 
tion or other characteristics of any when expe- 
rienced. 

Eighth. That after the process of physical death 
the condition of the man in the spirit world de- 
pends not upon arbitrary decree or special provi- 
sion made by a superior, but on character, aspi- 
rations and personal individual conformity to the 
universal divine law of his nature. 

The two parts of man's nature, the spiritual 
and material, notwithstanding their close re- 
lationship, keep up and maintain their distinc- 
tive affinities for the worlds to which their 
respective natures belong. 

Of a two-fold nature all men are entirely 
conscious. They know that the body will die 
and return to its natural element, the earth. 
And there are but few, if any, who have not 
an innate conception of a future state of ex- 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 23 

istence. However much they may differ in 
opinion as to its nature, all agree that life is 
continuous. That the spirtual is everlasting. 
The mind, unless laboring under an imperfect 
condition, cannot depart from the idea of spirit 
perpetuity, no more than it can recede from 
the knowledge that the body must die. 

Man, therefore, is not ignorant of his two dis- 
tinct natures, experiencing daily the natural 
decay of the body, and the continuous devel- 
opment of the great fact that his spirit is 
eternal. It requires no Revelation to teach 
these things, for it is a law of nature with 
which man becomes quite as familiar as with 
any other feature of his existence. 

Indeed it would appear unnatural had man 
been brought into existence without this knowl- 
edge. 

Man needs no evidence but a knowledge of 
his own nature to prove Immortality. 

Now if the spirit lives forever, which all, or 
nearly all, are ready to admit, there must be a 
spirit-world in which it can reside, with sub- 
stantial realities adapted to its nature and 
wants. This requires no argument. If the 
spirit lives it must have a place wherein it can 
exist, and it is reasonable to suppose that after 
leaving the body, by the natural law of affinity, 



24 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

it. will be conducted to a locality adapted to its 

condition and capacity. 

After the death of the body the spirit has 

a loftier aspiration for the good, the true, and 
the beautiful. A stronger desire to acquire 
greater knowledge of itself and surroundings. 
It is in compliance with this law that we sup- 
pose localities to exist in which the attributes, 
desires and characteristics of the spirit may be 
rapidly and distinctly developed. 

The beautiful laws of nature, like their Divine 
Author, are just and equal in their effects, and 
it would be incompatible with the idea of 
justice, to suppose that a pure spirit would be 
kept daily and hourly in contact with other 
spirits whose minds and acts were entirely 
opposed to its own. This would be a violation 
of the natural law of Progression. 

The following extract from a communication 
said to have been received by a very intelligent 
spiritualist (Judge Edmunds), is about as natu- 
ral a description of the spirit-world as we have 
seen. 

The reader will remember the proposition 
" that the change called physical death, a sepa- 
ration of matter and spirit, is a necessity of 
man's nature quite as much as his birth." Both 
are natural. 

" When awakening from this sleep of death 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 25 

and opening his eyes to the world into which 
his spirit was ushered, how strange his thoughts, 
how marvellous the sensations which rush 
through his brain with lightning rapidity ! To 
you, who have some conception of spirit life, 
the ideas I have suggested will not appear so 
passing strange. The spirit-bond which con- 
nected it to matter is severed, the link of life 
is broken, the spirit freed is disengaging itself 
from its earthly trammels. There lies the body 
stretched in death. How unlike the spirit which 
is floating over it, unconscious, still unable to 
think, but just borne into the life of the spheres. 
As it floats over the body which was so lately 
its abiding place, there comes to it, drawn by 
their affection or by their duties, spirits posses- 
sing form and shape, beautiful beyond thought. 
They support this spirit-child until it recovers 
its consciousness, and then with the impress 
of the last life-thought still vibrating on its 
brain, with the emotions of its heart still un- 
subdued by death, with its whole nature pal- 
pitating, and even suffering at the thought of 
the separation from loved, aye ! fondly loved 
friends, wife or children, this new spirit meets 
the new impressions and scenes which surround 
it. Its agonized mind writhing with death, and 
with all its nature struggling within its internal, 
it opens its eyes to the unspeakable glories of 



TRUI SPIRITUALISM. 

a now world. Then all the spirits whoso lives 
are pure, whose mission being accomplished 

toward it, now take it by the hand, and bid 
it look around, and behold the things which 
are old become now. Think yon, with all these 
objects, both of spirit-life and spirit-matter, 
coursing their way through the several senses 
of its brain, there is not awakened an impulse 
and desire far beyond the dull and confined 
sensations of life? Think, too, that it is dives- 
ted of all the contrivances which in life so cir- 
cumscribed its mental action, and that its freed 
spirit can now quaff deep of the intoxicating 
draughts of joy unspeakable that are presented 
to it on all sides. 

Spirits when they awake to a sense of what 
they are, are not permitted to talk much, 
neither are their minds tasked with a succes- 
sion of new impressions other than those 
w r hich first meet the eye. After the friends 
have taken charge of them for awhile, they 
remain under their teaching for a time, not 
sermons or doctrines, but a sort of history 
of what is before them, and then they are 
left to the true manifestations of their na- 
ture. Now, if good and pure, if their minds 
desire the high and holy, if, in simple lan- 
guage, they wish to ascend, their affinities are 
their guide. They cannot mistake. They are 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 2T 

irresistibly impelled to go forward to the 
place where they meet with all the circum- 
stances and conditions which conform to their 
desires or the wants of their nature. 

Now, be it understood, spirits cannot con- 
ceal their true feelings like man. The fact of 
being a spirit opens the avenues of thought 
and motive to all. Thus, though their desires 
are as different and as varied as their forms 
and countenances, yet they are fully cognizant 
of what spirit means and of what spirit re- 
quires. It is this principle which impels them 
to locate where they will be most happy." 



28 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 



CHAPTER V. 

Ninth. That growth and development is the law of 
the human being, and is the endless progressive 
destiny of all. 

Tenth. That as individuals are continually passing 
from the earthly to the spirit world, in all stages 
and conditions of mental and moral growth, the 
spirit world necessarily includes all grades of 
character, from the lowest to the highest. 

Eleventh. That happiness and misery depend on the 
growth and development of moral purity, and 
there must be as many grades of each in the 
spirit world as there are shades of character, 
each gravitating to its own place by the natural 
law of affinity. 

That growth and development is the law of 
the human being, can scarcely admit of a doubt, 
to the mind of even moderate comprehension. 
We see the principle demonstrated in a ma- 
terial way even in the vegetable kingdom. 

The tendency of the mind of man, is to 
investigate and explore nature's laws. We 
can scarcely conceive of a mind entirely des- 
titute of an inclination to acquire knowledge. 
Experience being the great educator, every 
person must from necessity become more and 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 29 

more acquainted with the physical manifesta- 
tions of nature, and, as knowledge is acquired, 
the mind becomes enlarged and rises into 
lofty aspirations, wishes and desires. 

There is no mind so enlightened, but there 
is one above it, more developed, more pro- 
gressed. Thus all advanced minds have above 
them others still more advanced. At the 
present day there are more persons moving 
and controlling the affairs of life ; and 
they are further advanced in a knowledge of 
physical sciences, mental and moral develop- 
ment, grand spiritual truths, and manifest 
more of the true characteristics of the proper 
nature of humanity, than all nations or peo- 
ples who have preceded them. 

" There is a necessity for an advance toward 
perfection in everything created by God. Of 
what purpose was it that he created worlds, 
and filled them with intelligent beings, capa- 
ble of understanding and learning from every 
manifestation of his power around them the 
effects, which certain laws he has established 
have produced ? Of what purpose was it 
that he should have created them, if he 
had intended that they — man or men — should 
have remained in a state of abeyance ? Of 
what use the mind ? Of what use thought ? 
Of what use that the sprig should have been 
lopped from the oak itself? 



30 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

God could just as well have created man 
without a soul as with an intelligent one; and 
certainly it appears reasonable that in planting 
within his body a spirit susceptible, compre- 
hensive and intelligent, he intended that spirit 
should not be satisfied with learning or under- 
standing one fact only, and that it should not 
be satisfied till it had grasped everything 
within the scope of its faculties. If it were 
not intended that both spirit and matter 
should progress, God would probably have 
created man with all the powers and faculties 
of his nature, ready developed at his creation. 
For, were it denied that the intention of his 
creation was his steady advancement, the mind, 
when it had mastered one position, would have 
still remained the same as before it recognized 
a new idea. There could not have been any 
appreciation of anything before it, and instead 
of knowledge enlarging its range of desire 
and thought, it would have left it in the same 
condition as it found it." 

All grades of mind and character, from the 
imbecile to the highest order of intellect ; from 
the most depraved and undeveloped in a men- 
tal and moral sense, to the most pure and 
elevated, are momentarily passing from this 
plane of existence to the spirit-world. That 
world necessarily includes all grades of char- 
acter. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 31 

" Life in the spirit world is but a continua- 
tion of life upon earth, and that the legitimate 
object of the one is but to prepare for the 
other; that time on earth is but a stepping- 
stone to an eternity in the spheres ; that the 
bias and direction of the mind, and the affec- 
tions which it obtains on earth, make their im- 
press upon your existence after you have left 
it ; that the perversions and misdirections 
which you imbibe during your primary exis- 
tence affect and direct your life after it ; that 
the truths which are planted in the soul while 
it inhabits its tenement of clay, accompany 
and cheer it on its way through the long ages 
of eternity.' ' 

^j> *f* *|* 3j€ 5|% 5}C 5JC 5^J 3|C 

" To ascertain what was the true mission of 
Christ, we should attentively consider the 
character of the man as given in sacred his- 
tory, and also in profane, and view his daily 
life and action in reference to the great work 
he was called to perform. The earliest indica- 
tion of any positive ministration was his teach- 
ings in the temple when yet a child, and when 
he confounded the Priest and the Pharisee. 
At this time he reasoned of life, death, and 
eternity, and the ground-work of all his teach- 
ings was, that the moral purity of man's life 
on earth was the guarantee of his happiness 
after death. From this period until the time 



39 TRUE SPIRITUALISM, 

oi % his death he sought out every opportunity 
to utter those sentiments; and were we to 

take the sermon on the Mount as the solitary 
evidence in support of our argum'ent, we 
should triumphantly claim that Christ's mis- 
sion was the reformation of the moral condi- 
tion of the world ; that he taught that love, 
purity, truth on earth, are the incipient steps 
of progression ; that eternity develops no sen- 
timents more consonant with the nature of 
God than progression from these principles. 
The simple parable of the Pharisee and the 
sinner is pertinent proof of the truth. The 
Pharisee, satisfied with himself, desired no ad- 
vance, but thanked God he was not like other 
men ; but the sinner, conscious of his short- 
comings, convicted of sin, and of righteous- 
ness, and of a judgment to come, besought 
God to be merciful, to open to his mind the 
truths it behooved him to know, and to assist 
him in his earnest endeavors to progress in 
all goodness from life through death, onward 
through the spheres. What other interpreta- 
tion can be given of this simple story related 
by Christ ? The sinner lifting up his eyes 
afar off, cried, God be merciful ! Merciful for 
what ? That he might understand how to 
live, that his death might usher him into the 
liberty of life everlasting." — (Spiritualism.) 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 33 



CHAPTER VI. 

Twelfth. That through the law of spirtual affinity- 
there may be, and, doubtless are, by mental im- 
pression or other modes of transmission, communi- 
cations to a limited extent from spirits out of the 
form to spirits in the form ; but these communi- 
cations are to be regarded as truths, just as com- 
munications from one person to another while on 
earth. Their character lor truthfulness depends 
entirely upon the mental and moral development 
of both — the one that gives and the one that 
receives. 

Thirteenth. That these communications or influx of 
ideas and promptings from the spirit world are 
not to be regarded as special privileges, confined 
to one class of persons, but have existed and 
will exist through all time and among all classes ; 
they are the op ration of natural law. 

In the whole range of science, philosophy 
and theology, there is no one thing so interest- 
ing, in fact, all absorbing, as man's future 
destiny. Let there appear but one ray of light 
penetrating the future, and from the least de- 
veloped to the towering intellect, silent, solemn 
attention is given. All else for the moment 
sinks into utter insignificance. 

The great problems " Where are we from ? " 
3 



34 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

"Who are we ? n and "where are we going"? 
have not yet been fully solved. If we should 
remain in comparative ignorance of the first 
and second, the third will ever be to those on 
earth, the same intensely interesting question. 

Is it a fact that those who have passed 
through the process of physical death and are 
in a spiritual state of existence, able by 
mental impression, physical manifestations or 
otherwise, to transmit their thoughts, wishes 
and desires to those who are yet connected 
with the material body, and if so under what 
conditions, and to what extent ? are questions 
now claiming more attention and consideration 
than any other thing. 

The immortality of the soul, or continued 
existence of the spirit of man, may be con- 
sidered as settled in the minds of all. Few, 
if any, really doubt it. 

While each person has a distinct individual- 
ized organization, no two among the countless 
numbers existing at any one time are pre- 
cisely alike. 

There is such a similarity in mental or- 
ganization, thought, feeling, aspiration, will, 
wish and desire, that were it not for the 
difference in the physical organization, it 
would be often almost impossible to tell one 
from the other. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 35 

These thoughts, likes and desires appear to 
run in the same groove. This is what 
philosophers call " affinity." 

Is it unreasonable to suppose that these 
persons when separated by the very thin 
partition which is said to divide the spiritual 
from the natural world still have an inclina- 
tion to commune with each other, so far as 
their different conditions of existence would 
permit ? Particularly when they had been 
closely allied while both were in the physical 
form, by love, marriage or other relationship ? 

Matter, Mind and Spirit are the three princi- 
ples constituting organized individuality. 

Matter we can see and feel, because it has 
form. We associate Spirit with form also, 
but Mind we cannot comprehend. It is the 
agent or vehicle by which communications and 
thought are transmitted from spirit to spirit. 
There is no other conceivable way. 

The different proportions of Matter, Mind 
and Spirit, constitute the different dispositions, 
powers, capacities, &c, of individuals. 

It is a well established fact, generally re- 
ceived as such, that there are persons (clair- 
voyants) at times possessing a power to dis- 
cern objects not generally perceptible to the 
senses of themselves or others, and while in 
that condition, their minds are greatly de- 



36 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

veloped and made cognizant of principles and 
t rut lis, pertaining not only to the physical 
condition of things, but their relationship to 
the higher and more exalted state of exist- 
ence. 

Persons of extraordinary capacities and 
abilities, are endowed, more or less, with this 
power. Grand and beautiful truths are dis- 
covered while in this condition. In fact, the 
ability for which persons are often distin- 
guished is altogether owing to the fact of 
their possessing it. 

While in this developed state of mind, spirit 
out of the body, undoubtedly acts upon spirit 
in the body, producing results inexplicable in 
any other way. That is, an impression is 
made by the spirit in a more exalted condi- 
tion, on the inner principle of the spirit re- 
ceiving it. The impression creates thought, 
which thought becomes associated with words, 
and are thus communicated to others. 

These impressions find vent in different 
ways, depending upon the peculiar organiza- 
tion of the medium. Their character for useful- 
ness and truthfulness depend entirely upon 
the mental and moral development of the one 
that gives and the one that receives. 

All persons possess mediumistic powers to 
a greater or less extent. They are not confined 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 37 

to a select few. Many are unconscious of 
their existence in themselves. They develop 
themselves in various ways, scarcely two being 
alike. 

Various theories have been given of the 
modus operandi of Spirit communication, but 
no one really understands or can explain the 
means used. The law of spirit affinity is 
exceedingly mysterious. We see its operations 
and effects daily among and between the 
sexes, but cannot tell the cause of its exist- 
ence. Upon it, however, depends the little 
harmony that exists among men. 

Whether a spirit out of the body can re- 
turn to the earth, draw from the elements 
matter to cover itself with a body similar to 
the one it used while in the form, with all its 
organs, parts and acquirements, use it as long 
as it wishes, and then withdraw, allowing it 
to almost instantly disappear and return to 
the source from which it came, is more than 
doubtful. In fact, it appears to be wholly 
inconsistent with the laws of nature. 



3S TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Those who have given spirit-materialization 
some attention, claim that spirits become pos- 
sessed of such an extensive knowledge and 
control of the laws of chemical affinity, that 
they are enabled to decompose and recompose 
solid bodies of matter, to suspend the force of 
cohesion, so that the particles will be for a 
time set free, and when they withdraw that 
suspension the same particles will immediately 
assume their former positions and relationship 
to each other, the body of matter returning to 
its exact form and shape before decomposition 
took place. 

By this means, also, they are enabled to re- 
move heavy bodies from one place to another. 
They suspend the force of cohesion, the parti- 
cles of matter become disconnected, the spirits 
then move the spirit of the body to the de- 
sired place, the scattered particles follow, and 
with unerring certainty and precision again as- 
sume their respective places. 

That spirits possess such power is highly 
improbable. If such were the case, the forms 
of matter would be, to say the least, in a very 
unsettled, if not unsafe condition. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 39 

That nature's laws can be suspended, and 
held in abeyance by spirits to such a formida- 
ble extent, needs confirmation from very high 
authority. 

Clairvoyants undoubtedly can see spirits, but 
they are not materialized ; and wherever in 
sacred or profane history mention is made of 
angels and spirits having been seen, if not 
wholly imaginary, it was by persons in a clair- 
voyant condition. The following is part of a 
communication purporting to come from a 
spirit describing the process of materialization. 

" In order that a spirit may present itself in 
what is understood as a materialized form, so 
as to be seen by your external visual organs, 
they must have their spiritual bodies covered, 
more or less densely, with a tangible material 
substance. The material substance is not 
drawn from your physical bodies, nor from 
the atmosphere, but the forces which produce 
it are drawn from the medium, the circle, and 
the atmosphere. 

We do not take your skin, nor your flesh 
and blood, to create these material forms, but 
we take the forces which produce these tissues 
in part from you. It is usual, in the first 
place, presenting a materialized form of a 
spirit, simply to cover the exterior of the bodj^ 
with the materials thus formed, so that you 



40 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

have little more than what the artist terms 

••still life," in these. We have the power, 

however, of materializing the internal organs; 

especially the organs of speech, so that spirits 

are able to give utterance to vocal sounds. 

We can also materialize the spiritual heart, 

blood vessels, and all the other organs, so that 

yon may feel the pulse and become cognizant 

of their existence. 
******* 

This is in artistic work, requiring a knowl- 
edge of the laws by which it is performed, as 
well as a skill which can only be obtained by 
repeated practice. Materialization produced by 
different spirits will vary. There are numer- 
ous schools here in which this art is taught ; 
pupils are trained and sent out to practice." 

There are said to be many phases of me- 
diumship ; this opens such a wide field for 
credulity, delusion and deception, that it is 
often almost impossible to tell the genuine 
from the spurious. There are a few general 
rules, however, if closely observed by investi- 
gators, deception can be detected : 

First. Yery few mediums who follow the ex- 
hibition of spirit manifestations as a business, 
are reliable. They generally consult the will 
and wishes of those who patronize them. Every 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 41 

honest investigator will acknowledge this to be 
true. 

Second. When mediums are scrupulously ex- 
acting about certain arbitrary u conditions " to 
be observed by the circle, it is not a favorable 
sign of honesty. 

Third. When darkness and music are re- 
quired for the display of spirit-manifestations, 
the investigator may feel assured that imposi- 
tion is about to be practised. 

Fourth. When spirits refuse in 'any way to 
identify themselves, give evasive answers to 
plain questions, or, the communications they 
give are shrouded in mystery, it is very seldom 
that the medium is not an impostor. 

That denizens of the spirit-world do commu- 
nicate by mental impression or other modes of 
transmission, with the spirits of persons who are 
yet in the material form, is a fact, so well 
established, no one whose opinion would be 
regarded as of any value, can successfully deny. 
Bijt it is equally true that where there is 
one genuine communication four are spurious. 
Those that are genuine contain nearly all 
grades of character. Nevertheless after twenty 
years' experience, the writer can truthfully say, 
that he never saw a genuine communication 
contain a word or sentence that was immoral. 

Education in the spirit- world, as it is here, is 



42 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

slow of growth. The illiterate, undeveloped 
spirit, on its first entrance into that world, ex- 
periences but little change in its condition. 

The following communications believed to be 
genuine, received by a friend, is a specimen of 
the intellectual condition of one who had been 
in the spirit-world but a few months. It is 
given as written. He said his name was " John 
Jones, " had "'died in New York, in January," 
18G2. The communication was received in May 
of the same year. 

" You have got to hear my story fust. I am 
happy now since I have larnt how fer to wrap. 
You must pitty my ignorence instead of laugh- 
ing. I can tell you, I am sorry I lived as I 
did ; but no decent man would speak to me 
when I wanted to reform, and now I am not 
able to converse as well as a little infant, be- 
cause I have no body to larn me how. Now 
do remember the poor; and remember that 
poverty makes 'em bad. You must not pass 
them by. I lived anywhere where they would 
keep me. Good-night, Sur." 

Through the mediumship of Mrs. Nellie J. 
T. Brigham, well known to the public, we have 
listened to many most beautiful and sublime 
productions of literature. Among other things, 
she will improvise poetry upon any subject 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 43 

selected for her by entire strangers, without a 
moment's preparation. 

On one occasion when the writer was pre- 
sent, she asked for a suitable subject for a 
Poem ; there was handed her a slip of paper, 
upon which was written u The Water Lily." 
Without hesitation, delay, or apparent effort on 
her part, she delivered in a clear, distinct voice, 
the following beautiful Poem : 

" Dark beneath the skies of winter, 

Lies the sluggish water low, 
While the sombre clouds above it, 

Drifting masses come and go ; 
And beneath the silent water 

Lies a germ that is at rest, 
Waiting neatli the slime and darkness 

While hope whispers in its breast. 

Soon the ice of weary winter 

Melts and passes all away, 
And unfolding buds and blossoms 

Pave the fragrant path of May ; 
And the golden sunbeams quiver 

On the river shining through, 
Telling all the happy story, 

" Earth is fair and skies are blue." 

Calling, "Oh ! thou child of Heaven 

Light is given for thy way — 
Rise ! the winter has departed, 

Night has passed, lo it is day." 



4 1 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

Then the Hstning lily rises, 
Climbing upward to the light, 

Till amid the leaves encircling 
Comes the blossom into sight. 

Whence comes all the wealth of whiteness, 

And the beauty of the snow, 
With its heart of golden glory, 

Where the treasured sunbeams glow ; 
From the dark and silent waters, 

From the ooze and mud below, 
It arose with patient toiling, 

Till God clothed it white as snow. 

So in all your grief and doubting, 

In this winter world of sin, 
Take the lesson of the lilies, 

All your weary hearts within. 
Hope through all your nights of sorrow, 

For a morrow bright and fair, 
Where the soul is lifted upward 

From the waters of despair. 

Eise though sorrow's waves are bitter ; 

Rise, from darkness and from wrong, 
Thou shalt find the smile of Heaven 

And thy soul shall bloom ere long, 
And within the land of beauty, 

Thou shalt find rejoicing there, 
Blooming like the water lily 

From all earthly grief and care." 

Mrs. B. in her normal condition makes no 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM, 45 

pretentions to literary attainments or poetical 
ability. 

This is a common occurrence among public 
lecturers on the Spiritualistic Rostrum, but this 
circumstance is related, because it occurred in 
the writer's presence. 

Whoever has listened to the unsurpassed 
eloquence of Miss Jennie Leys while she was 
under an influence, must have felt satisfied that 
there was an intelligence present, far surpassing 
hers while in a normal condition. 

Those who have been in the spirit-world a 
long time have probably lost all interest in 
earthly affairs. Their high mental and moral 
attainments being so far above the comprehen- 
sion of mortals yet in the flesh, that it would 
be useless for them to communicate. They 
could not be understood. 



46 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Fourteenth. That the chain of causation traced back- 
ward from what we see in nature, leads inevitably 
to a Great First Cause, the fountain of life, love and 
wisdom, the source of all power, sustaining to all 
individualized intelligence the relation of father, 
consequently all are brethren. 

Does nature famish evidence sufficient to 
prove the existence of a Great First Cause ? 

Every well balanced, properly organized 
human mind must answer this question in the 
affirmative. 

We can only recognize Power, Intelligence, 
Wisdom, Mind, by signs, results, consequences. 

We can see the little seed placed in the 
ground, and from it will grow a huge tree, 
bearing fruit which contains within it hundreds 
of seeds of the same kind, any one* of which em- 
braces the proper elements to produce another 
tree. The same principle runs through the ani- 
mal kingdom. We see the result in the multi- 
tudinous forms of matter, but we cannot see the 
power or individual law, the operation of which 
produces these numerous forms. We know 
from observation that every blade of grass, 



TRUE SniUTUALISM. 41 

every shrub, every tree, and every animal has 
a distinctive law of its nature, and these vari- 
ous laws work in harmony with all other laws 
in the economy of nature, all coming from 
the same power, and the various producing, 
generating, organizing forces having one com- 
mon origin. In all their operations, there is 
method, order, purpose, result. Philosophy can 
come to but one conclusion, Reason give but 
one solution, summed up in a few words — All 
nature's forms in the mineral, vegetable 
and animal kingdoms are but the demon- 
STRATIONS of one Grand Power, a vital 
force, of infinite extent and duration, 
possessing Intelligence, Mind, Purpose, Re- 
sult. 

This Power is the Life, the Soul, the Spirit 
of matter. 

This Spirit is our God. 

Each form in the Mineral and Vegetable 
kingdoms, and each organized Intelligence hav- 
ing an existence in the animal, being the result 
of the operation of a separate law, has its ap- 
propriate place in Nature's Great Structure, the 
smallest as proportionately important as the 
largest. 

Nature makes no distinction in the operation 
of her laws ; in the distribution of her favors she 
has no preference. The sun shines upon all 



49 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

alike. The gentle showers of rain refresh the 
little rose in the desert as well and as cheerfully 
as the one in the garden. 

For the human family nature provides no law 
entailing upon one class rights, privileges and 
immunities more than upon others. All men are 
created equal, and have natural, moral, political 
and social rights ; the social relations being 
regulated by the laws of congeniality or affinity. 

Whenever mention is made in sacred or pro- 
fane history of a portion of any nation, tribe or 
kingdom, having been set apart for any particu- 
lar purpose, or where they have assumed a posi- 
tion in society by which they obtained legal or 
ecclesiastical rights, privileges or exemptions, 
greater than others, it is the history of a direct 
and positive violation of the laws of God, as 
manifested through nature. 

Whenever any government in its sovereign 
capacity grants special favors or exclusive privi- 
leges to any portion of its subjects, it is an arbi- 
trary assumption and abuse of power which no 
government has a right to exercise. It is usur- 
pation and tyranny, always producing a retard- 
ing and demoralizing influence on the people. 

Wherever any sect or denomination throws 
around itself barriers to exclude others who 
might wish to partake of any advantages it may 
have for mental, moral or social improvement, 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 49 

without being obliged to submit to a particular 
form, or to believe in a certain creed or dogma, 
assumes a position in society, selfish, unwise, 
unnatural and unjust to all others of the same 
community, state or nation. 

The Great First Cause which we call God, 
being the source of all power, from which power 
proceeds laws that in their operation produce 
the different forms in nature, constituting the 
mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, these 
laws working in harmony, producing proper and 
intended results with unerring certainty ; man 
being the ultimatum of all organized intelligence, 
and being as subject to the law of his nature as 
any other material form, and these laws all 
being controlled by Divine wisdom, constitute 
all men brethren, standing upon equal terms of 
relationship with the Great Father. 



01) TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Fifteenth, That man as the offspring of the Divine, 
has within him a germ of divinity, which is 
ever prompting him toward perfection, and that 
all evil in man is a want of harmony with this 
Divine principle, caused by an undeveloped men- 
tal and moral condition. 

Man has a natural body consisting of gross 
matter, and a spiritual body consisting of or- 
ganized matter, in a state of refined advance- 
ment. He has two natures, a material and a 
spiritual. The material limited in its dura- 
tion. The spiritual contains within it the 
essence, the Mind, the Intelligence, the Life, 
the Immortal Man, with perpetual, eternal 9 
everlasting existence. 

There is in man a principle which is 
stronger than Reason. An activity, a Sov- 
ereign Energy, conscious of its own power, 
independence and duration. It thinks, it feels, 
it has judgment, it reasons. It has an innate 
perception that it will live forever, that it will 
ultimately arrive at a condition of perfection. 
It is above the undeveloped part of man's 
nature, all the other faculties consent to the pro- 
priety and necessity of obedience to this power. 

Dr. Adam Clark calls this feature of man's 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 51 

organization "the will," and comments on it 
thus: — "There is not a man in ten millions, 
who will carefully watch the operations of 
this faculty, that will find it opposed to 
good, and obstinately attached to evil, as is 
generally supposed. Nay, it is found almost 
uniformly on God's side, while the whole 
sensual system is against Him. It is not 
the will that leads men astray ; but the 
corrupt passions which oppose and oppress the 
will. It is truly astonishing into what endless 
mistakes men have fallen on this point, and 
what systems of divinity have been builded 
on these mistakes. The will, this almost 
only friend to God in the human soul, has 
been slandered as God's worst enemy." 

This is but illustrating under the name of 
the will, the germ of divinity that is in 
man. It cannot do evil, but, on the con- 
trary, is ever prompting man to a higher, 
holier and happier condition. 

Just in proportion to the development of 
man's mental and moral faculties, will be the 
condition of his passions. Good and evil are 
but names for opposite conditions. As he 
develops the latter recedes, and the former 
increases ; still advancing toward perfection. 
Thus, man is ever progressing, and this is 
the law of his nature. 



59 TRUE SPIRITUALISM, 



CHAPTER X. 

Sixteenth. That growth in goodness and truth is slow, 
depending to some extent on physical organiza- 
tion and surrounding circumstances, but the ulti- 
mate destiny of all is perfection and happiness. 

Seventeenth. Man's highest duty in this world is to 
assist in the mental and spiritual development of 
his kind, for such is the fundamental unity of 
human interests. So completely are our essential 
lives merged in each other's, that the highest good 
and happiness of each individual can only be at- 
tained through the highest good and happiness of 
all. 

All men grow in goodness and truth. Man's 
spiritual nature can never degenerate. Mat- 
ter decomposes and changes in form, but never 
grows less in quantity or value. The spirit 
having within it life eternal, from the neces- 
sities of its nature, continually increases in 
knowledge and wisdom, advances in goodness 
and truth. The physical organization of men 
often retard their progress. The position they 
occupy in life may be such as to prevent an 
accumulation of the elements necessary for 
their rapid mental and moral development, 
but the growth is sure, the ultimate destiny 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 53 

certain. Perfection and happiness is the final 
condition of every child of God. 

In very earty life man is taught the pri 
mary lessons of God's great administration, as 
manifested through the laws of nature. 

The little child at first has no knowledge 
but its own wants. It feels its own necessities, 
and is eager to have them supplied; and not 
until it comes in contact with others of its 
own age, does it learn that they have wants 
as well as itself. Its little selfish nature 
prompts it to gratify its own wishes first, and 
even then it gives with reluctance to others. 
Not until it has advanced from childhood to 
youth, does it realize that it derives pleasure 
in bestowing upon its comrades that assist- 
ance which gratifies its own wishes. 

Advancing to manhood, the love of wealth, 
the commanding influence it gives in the 
world, the fascinations of power, and the 
gratification of distinction in life, to a great 
extent obscures the finer sensibilities of man's 
nature. It is not until the cares and troubles, 
the vexations and sorrows, trials and disap- 
pointments of life are experienced, and keenly 
felt ; until the cold winds and nipping frosts of 
life's autumn have softened and subdued the 
uncouth, selfish and baser passions of his 
nature, does man realize the great fact, that 



54 TRUE SPIRITUALISM, 

human lives and human interests, through in- 
finite wisdom, are so united and merged in 
each other, that eacli individual can only at- 
tain to a high condition of goodness and hap- 
piness by others occupying the same position. 
Some will probably never be able to realize it 
in this world, regardless of age or experience. 

When man has advanced to this stand- 
point, and not until then, will be seen tower- 
ing above and completely transcending all 
other conceptions, the beautiful Tree of Life 
in all its sj^mmetrical glory, the roots firmly 
fixed in nature, its growth having been promoted 
by the fertilizing influence of charity, love, 
justice and the performance of good actions; 
its blossoms transmitting through all humanity 
an exhilarating fragrance of affection and 
kindly greeting, binding the interests, feelings 
and associations of men into one common 
brotherhood; its branches speading over all 
peoples, powers and principalities, " its leaves 
for the healing of all nations." 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 55 



CHAPTER XT. 

Eighteenth. The sufferings of this life are the neces- 
sary results of man's structure, are essential con- 
ditions of his mental, moral and spiritual culture 
and development ; they are part of the divine 
economy, and the only methods by which we can 
ever reach high attainments and beneficent results. 
No man can appreciate spiritual refinement and 
exaltation, or comprehend the full measure of hap- 
piness and joy, until he has felt the sharp pangs of 
suffering and woe. 

Nineteenth. That in proportion to man's moral 
purity will be his happiness here and hereafter. 

The elements of which the human body are 
composed are found to exist in nearly all 
animal bodies. In fact, it is only the propor- 
tionate difference of the same elements, the 
characteristics of the mind, passion and pur- 
pose they are required to develop, represent, 
and for which they are intended, that govern 
the formation of the physical structure of all 
animals. 

The mind becomes lost when attempting to 
compute the time it required nature to prepare 
the material elements which enter into the 
structure of the animal kingdom before the 



56 TRUE SPIRITUALISM; 

different formations were prepared to receive 
that living, thinking, reasoning, organized ex- 
istence, germ of the Divinity, which gives per- 
putuity to man's duration, if not to inferior 
animals. These great constructive processes 
are correspondingly destructive ; the results of 
the operation of a law marching on in effect 
with methodical precision, the commencement 
and duration incomprehensible to the human 
mind. 

The laws of cohesion and disintegration 
never cease in their operation ; the first only 
preparatory for the last. Nature is never at 
rest. All these apparent differences, tumults and 
commotions, are but necessary parts of the 
grand whole, in perfect harmony with each 
other, and with the plans and purposes of the 
Great First Cause, the Divine Origin. 

Nature's forms being but temporary struc- 
tures, serving for incidental purposes, when- 
ever the ends for which they were made are 
accomplished, disintegrate and pass off into 
other uses, proceeding with mathematical ex- 
actness. A place for everything, and every- 
thing in its place. Nothing comes too soon, 
nothing delays. 

It has been said that the agitations and 
commotions of the material world are " caused 
by nature seeking an equilibrium." A great 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 5? 

fallacy. Nature is in exact equilibrium. 
There is nothing out of order. No mistakes 
are or ever will be made. 

The infinite is God. The nearest the in- 
finite is man. 

We accept the idea that Man is the Ulti- 
mate of Nature, the Lord of Creation, and 
that his destiny is a perfectly formed spiritual 
body, a symmetrically developed mind, occu- 
pying an exalted spiritual position ,capable of 
enjoying perfect happiness, and that this con- 
dition is to be obtained by means of outward 
agents, the operation of natural laws for 
spiritual advancement. 

Man, before he is capable of enjoying an 
exclusively spiritual existence, must be edu- 
cated, unfolded, cultured, developed, until he 
is made conscious of his spiritual destiny and 
relationship with divine things. He can only 
be educated through experience, and for that 
purpose, the law of his nature requires a 
primary existence in a material body, through 
which he can receive that culture and dis- 
cipline that will prepare him for higher attain- 
ments. It is only by association with gross 
matter that he can learn the conditions of a 
lower existence, and then by these powerful 
agencies brought into use under the direction 
of Divine Intelligence, he gradually acquires a 
knowledge of the high purpose of his creation. 



58 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 



His education is compulsory. Rarely does 
lie consent to that thorough discipline so 
necessary for his advancement. The follow- 
ing article, published in the Philadelphia 
Ledger, in the issue of the 23d of August, 
1873, will be read in this connection with in- 
terest. The author's name is not known, or 
his permission to use it would have been 
asked. 

" There are few of us, if any, who are suf- 
ficiently judicious and well balanced thor- 
oughly to appreciate and value the steady 
and unvarying discipline of nature. Because 
we cannot always trace the immediate connec- 
tion between actual wrong-doing and suffering, 
we are frequently inclined to consider nature's 
penalties stern and hard, if not arbitrary and 
unjust. The pain she inflicts appears to us 
to be often greatly out of proportion to the 
faults that preceded it. We see not why the 
accidental misstep should be visited by a 
broken limb ; why inherited disease should 
produce lingering physical agony and prema- 
ture death ; why simple and perhaps unavoid- 
able ignorance of the laws of nature should 
entail such untold suffering and sorrow. Per- 
haps one reason why it is thus hard for us to 
admit the constant friendliness of nature is 
because we mistake the office of penalty.- We 
mix up with it some purpose of vengeance, or 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 59 

at least an intention of inflicting a justly merited 
and apportioned punishment for a direct of- 
fence, whereas the more closely we study 
nature's laws the more we shall find their one 
grand purpose to be the steady improvement 
and elevation of the human race. Whatever 
hinders or obstructs this, whether ignorance 
or error, or moral defection, is continually be- 
ing swept away, and the rude handling re- 
ceived is not so much in proportion to the ac- 
tual moral guilt incurred, as to the degree of 
obstruction offered to the progress of man- 
kind. Viewed in this light, what seems to us 
cruel in natural penalties, is really the largest, 
wisest, kindest benevolence. In many cases 
we can actually trace the workings of this 
law. We know that the failure and poverty 
of the idle, improvident or unskilful, however 
painful to them to bear, are the means by 
which patient industry and cultured labor are 
developed ; that the physical sufferings that 
follow ignorance of nature's laws, are the 
strongest incentives to the study of those 
laws; that even the severity which sends to 
an early grave the feeble and diseased off- 
spring of unhealthy parents, or by an epi- 
demic, weeds out so large a portion of the in- 
temperate, vicious, and uncleanly, really puri- 
fies the community and leads them into 
improved conditions of life. 



GO TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

The farther we progress in knowledge the 
more we see and understand that the apparent 
cruelty of nature in her penalties is but the 
necessary means of working out a happiness 
real and permanent, because founded upon 
the eternal laws of being. If this be so, we 
may well trust nature where we cannot trace 
her, and believe that it is only because of our 
limited vision that we can ever deem her 
hard or unkind in any of her dealings. Could 
we thoroughly acquire this state of mind, it , 
would counteract the tendency that is so com- 
mon to interfere between cause and effect, 
and to dissociate ignorance and error from 
their natural penalties. Many of the reforms 
of the clay, and much of the private benefi- 
cence of the world, loses its value from thus 
striving to prevent this natural sequence, and 
to save individuals from the results of their 
own conduct. The indulgence which surrounds 
the petted child of wealth with luxury, and 
shields him from every pain, is not real kind- 
ness, but cruelty. His powers, never tested, 
can never be developed; his faculties, unused, 
cannot wake into living action, and the only 
true happiness of man is that which comes 
from the full exercise of all his faculties. 
The indiscriminate charity which feeds idle- 
ness and nourishes vice, thus warding off for a 
time the penalties of both, is an actual injury 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 61 

both to the receiver and the community. All 
efforts to coerce men into good actions with- 
out establishing good principles, to restrict 
their freedom so that they cannot reap what 
they have sown ; all flattery, insincerity and 
deceit ; all excess of government ; all measures 
which tend to reward ignorance, and put it on 
a par with wisdom and ability, are of this 
character. Instead of nature being cruel in 
visiting ignorance, error and misdoing with 
penalties, it is we who are cruel in striving to 
subvert her fidelity. It is, however, impossi- 
ble to suspend nature's discipline long, if we 
could. There will ever be a reaction, and she 
will reassert her authority in spite of all our 
efforts to dispute it. Her laws are as inexora- 
ble as they are beneficent, and when we try 
to subvert them we are but beating against 
the waves. 

It may be said, what room is there left for 
human benevolence? If nature's penalties are 
the best and surest means of human progress, 
and to avert them is but to hinder it, it 
might seem that no outlet was left through 
which we could help or benefit our fellow crea- 
tures. But this is not so. Every impulse of 
benevolence has a channel through which it 
may flow unimpeded to bless mankind. Not 
by divorcing folly from its fruits, not by in- 
terfering with natural results, or averting na- 



()2 TRUE SriRITUALISM. 

I urn I penalties, can we do good, but rather by 
making these results clear to the minds of 
others, by endeavoring to dispel ignorance, en- 
lighten error, and convince men of the inevita- 
ble results of wrong doing. It is true this 
work is difficult, while the other is easy; but 
it is permanent, while the other is transient ; 
it strengthens the roots of character, while the 
other spoils the bud by forcing it open. It is 
comparatively easy to relieve the immediate 
wants of a beggar, but to raise him from beg- 
gary to self-support, to set before him the 
degrading results of idleness, and the blessings 
of honest industry, to excite within him better 
aims, these are tasks at once difficult and 
worthy of endeavor. To shield a criminal 
from the consequences of his crime is at least 
a questionable benevolence, but to convince 
him of his wrong doing, and incite him to re- 
form, is a noble enterprise. To guard a child 
from evil is a small and negative work, but to 
give him the power and the will to resist it is 
a great and permanent blessing. It is in at- 
tacking the roots of evil, not in warding off 
its penalties ; in dispelling error, not in avert- 
ing the consequences; in instructing ignorance, 
not in saving men from its effects, that true 
benevolence, thus working with and not against 
nature's kind and loving laws will accomplish 
her mission of good to the world. " 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 63 



CHAPTER XII. 

How thorough is man's discipline! How 
complete the means used for the purpose ! How 
permanent and lasting his education ! 

All scientific knowledge ; all facts necessary 
for the advancement and elevation of humanity ; 
all great spiritual truths man has obtained 
through the means of danger, trials, difficul- 
ties, disappointments, blood, racks, gibbets, 
revolutions, convulsions, earthquakes, and other 
troubles and vexations incident to human na- 
ture, which are apt to be termed accidents, 
miracles, unnatural causes, &c, yet when un- 
derstood and viewed from a proper stand-point 
displa} r the wisdom and benevolence of the 
Deity as much as those called blessings. 

" I come not to send peace, but a sword," 
said Christ. 

" For I am come to set a man at variance 
against his father, and the daughter at vari- 
ance against her mother, and the daughter-in- 
law against her mother-in-law." 

This state of affairs always existed. There 
never has been a time when the human family 
lived in peace ; there never was a time when 



64 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

a single family dwelt together in perfect 
harmony ; kinsmen, friends and neighbors, never 
lived on terms of friendship for any consider- 
able length of time. The pretended fondness 
of the two sexes for each other, is, to a very 
great extent hypocrisy. 

The great difference in likes and dislikes 
that exist between man and wife, parents and 
children, brothers and sisters, the want of con- 
geniality between brothers, and between sisters, 
is a fact transparent to all. 

The duplicity, deceit, envy, hatred, malice, 
back-biting and hypocrisy in every possible 
phase, common among mankind, is part of his 
nature. 

No human laws can ever reform the drunk- 
ard, debauchee, thief or the liar. They can be 
punished by the force of statutory enactments, 
but their dispositions can never thereby be 
changed. 

No moral reforms were ever brought about 
by legislation, church discipline, or the en- 
forcement of plenary decrees. 

Why does this condition of things exist ? 

We are living in the cellar kitchen. We are 
in an undeveloped condition. The Planet is not 
capable of producing a higher order of men. 
These apparent deficiencies in the great human 
famity cannot be prevented ; it is man's natural 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 65 

condition. The tree can at present produce 
nothing but unripe fruit. The material world 
must reach maturity before it can produce the 
full grown man. 

The supposed evils incident to this state of 
existence are not really enemies of humanity. 
If they were not necessary to our present condi- 
tion they would not exist. " Life is but a 
battle and a march." These trials and difficul- 
ties are but gymnastic exercises, training us for 
a higher and more spiritual existence. They 
are the means by which we progress. Our 
failures in life are our successes. Our losses, 
our richest gains. Our greatest advances are 
over the ruins of cherished schemes. 

The more we suffer in this world the faster 
we will progress in the next. 

One of the attributes of the Divine Mind 
is Justice. 

Whatever may be the difference in the or- 
ganization of men, their condition in life, or 
their natural propensities, each one has to 
undergo the necessary discipline to qualify 
him for a higher life. Whatever may be the 
length of time required ; whatever may be 
the condition we are in, or the surrounding 
circumstances ; however rugged may be the 
paths we have to tread, or the apparent 
difficulties in our way, the great law of Jus- 

5 



66 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

tiec demands no more from each one, and 
will take no less than is exactly necessary to 
qualify us for the purpose for which we are 
intended. 

For a wilful and malignant wrong against 
a fellow-being, or for a direct and positive 
violation of a law of one's nature, there is no 
forgiveness. Nature's demands are inexorable ; 
they admit of no compromise ; they will listen 
to no reason ; they will have the uttermost 
farthing. For a departure from the laws of 
eternal right, the penalty follows the trans- 
gression to an extent commensurate with the 
offence, and no more. 

We must be perfected through suffering- 
Justice accepts of nothing but compensation. 
A quid pro quo. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 6T 



CHAPTER XIII. 

When in the course of events, mental, 
moral or social reform becomes necessary, or 
great changes in the condition of things are 
to take place, Divine wisdom, through nature, 
furnishes the proper persons and the neces- 
sary means for their accomplishment. 

These persons are raised up generally from 
obscure places in society, but their organi- 
zation and mental development, place them 
far in advance of the age in which they 
live. In this consists their superiority. 

The world, not seeing as they see, know- 
ing as they know, feeling as they feel, re- 
gard them as enthusiasts, mystical and vis- 
ionary in their ideas, doctrines and theories. 
They are subjected to humiliation, repulsion, 
dislike and insult, sometimes to imprisonment, 
and even torture. The multitude is slow to 
learn, jealous of superiority, and with a super- 
abundance of selfishness, enyy and conceit, are 
loath to see others in advance of themselves. 

The teachings and motives of these ad- 
vanced persons are misunderstood, misinter- 
preted, and however much merit or intrinsic 



68 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

value there may be in them, the ignorance 
of the great mass may for a while retard 
their progress. 

But truth is powerful and will prevail. Just 
as fast as the people are prepared for it, 
they receive it, and although these persons 
possessing great comprehensive minds, excel- 
ling in wisdom and goodness may temporarily 
suffer persecution at the hands of the ig- 
norant and bigoted fanatics, their brilliant 
thoughts will live, and throw light into the 
dark corners of superstition, credulity and 
ignorance, and their influence and excellence 
will be transmitted down the current of time, 
sending a thrill of delight, admiration and life 
to thousands of kindred spirits ages thereafter. 

The world must and will progress. It mat- 
ters but little what name is given to progres- 
sive movements, they are the natural outflow 
of a great, irresistible, spiritual power. The 
life, the soul, the divine energy, operating 
through natural laws, for uses, purposes, ends, 
results, consequences ; manipulating and con- 
trolling all organizations of mind and matter, 
governments, kingdoms, systems and combina- 
tions. The whole in minutiae and detail, feels 
the vitalizing, life-giving, developing effects, 
invigorating and enlightening the intellectual 
faculties, entering into the field of perception 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 69 

and consciousness, promoting and advancing 
to a superior state of existence, enabling all 
eventually to comprehend from a philosophic 
and scientific stand-point, principles, causes, 
effects and their results; creating within the 
mind holier and more sublime aspirations, 
wishes and desires, for elevated and exalted 
spiritual attainments and conditions. 



70 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Knowledge in former times was confined to 
a few. Now, on this Continent at least, by 
the aid of public schools and other modern 
facilities for acquiring information, the minds 
of the people have become stimulated to a 
high degree, and in all conditions of life may 
be found persons with thoughtful, well-informed, 
philosophical and even scientific attainments. 

From the most unpretending to the giant 
intellect, the great subject which has most oc- 
cupied the human mind, is " Immortality." 
Does man exist after life's fitful fever shall 
have been ended ? If a man die, shall he live 
again ? These are the great questions which 
have in the past, and will in the future ages 
of the world, overshadow all others. 

The learning, the talent, the genius of the 
world have assembled to solve the great prob- 
lem of man's genesis, object of life, and his 
destiny. The combat with superstition will 
doubtless be fearful, but the issue is by no 
means doubtful. Ignorance, credulity, bigotry, 
intolerance, religious fanaticism, and all enemies 
of truth, must give way and forever perish. 



TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 71 

The fabulous stories which have been repre- 
sented as "Revelations of the Divine will to 
man/ 7 have ceased to be regarded with the 
veneration our forefathers surrounded them. 
This is the age of facts, and facts are stub- 
born things. That system of religion or 
morals which will not stand the test of reason, 
should not be allowed to exist. 

The battle in which Reason and Credulity 
are the contending parties, is being fought 
with great fury, but the contest will be of 
short duration. Never was there a combat 
between truth and error but the former was 
triumphant. 

The spiritual part of man's nature demands 
a religion recognizing, a Common Fatherhood 
and a Common Brotherhood. 

All opposition to this reasonable, but power- 
ful demand, must eventually yield. 

Caste has had its day, and will soon be num- 
bered among the things of the past. The spirit 
of the present age is analytical, thorough, satis- 
fied with nothing but what has truth for its 
foundation. It disregards the stronghold au- 
thority, and laughs at tradition. Its only 
standard is reason ; it encourages the inde- 
pendence of the many, instead of recognizing 
the power of a few. It worships God through 
nature, by being obedient to nature's laws. 



72 TRUE SPIRITUALISM. 

This is honoring the Diety, and is in har- 
mony with his will. 

The result of this mighty growth of mind 
is first, to sweep away old errors ; next, the 
accumulation and arrangement of facts with 
which to form a practical religion that will 
develop and familiarize the human mind with 
all the beautiful truths adapted to the wants 
and necessities of man's nature while associa- 
ted with materiality, and to cultivate within 
him grander, higher and more noble aspira- 
tions for a future spiritual existence. 



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